A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

HOW ODD THAT MASSACRES MOSTLY HAPPEN IN "GUN-FREE ZONES"! When will the brain-dead Left wake up and draw the obvious conclusion? Gun bans kill kids

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

TN: Joins Trend of Preventing Destruction of Valuable Firearms

In 2010, Tennessee passed a law forbidding police departments to destroy valuable guns. They had to keep them or sell them. Some departments chose to keep them rather than return them to standard channels of commerce. The legislature responded by making the sale of weapons acquired by police departments through confiscation or gun turn in programs to be sold every six months. That bill, passed in May of 2015, has become law in Tennessee. It faced little opposition in the legislature, passing on voice votes. Here is a partial summation. From tn.gov:

Prior to the disposal of any firearm that has been forfeited or abandoned to the state or a political subdivision of the state, the agency with custody or possession of the firearm must use best efforts to determine if the firearm has been lost by or stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained from an innocent owner, and if so, must return the firearm to the owner, if ascertainable, unless that person is ineligible to possess, receive, or purchase a firearm under state or federal law.

With certain exceptions, the agency must dispose of any such firearms it receives by sale at public auction to persons licensed as firearms collectors, dealers, importers, or manufacturers who are authorized to receive such firearms under the terms of such license. The auctions may occur online on a rolling basis or at live events, but in no event may an auction occur less frequently than once every six months during any time the agency has an inventory of saleable firearms.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland confirmed today that from now on, when the city has gun buyback programs, those weapons must be sold if they are in working order.

The legislation was first introduced last year and is now state law.

Mayor Strickland goes on to decry that he can no longer require that valuable firearms that are turned in at City organized events, must be destroyed. Such destruction had always been irrational, done for propaganda purposes. The message of these turn-in events had always been "Guns Bad - Turn them in to Police". Now the message is a little different: If you want to get rid a a gun, "turn it in to the police, and they will sell it".

Multiple academics have repeatedly said that these programs have no effect on crime, and may actually be counter productive. One of the most famous of these is from the "Freakonomics" web site:

When it comes to gun buybacks, both the theory and the data could not be
clearer in showing that they don’t work. The only guns that get turned
in are ones that people put little value on anyway. There is no impact
on crime. On the positive side, the “cash for clunkers” program is more
attractive than the gun buyback program because, as long as they are
being driven, old cars pollute, whereas old guns just sit there.

But "progressive" politicians loved the show; there was considerable room for throwing money around; and the propaganda value was always high on their list. The show was meant to "send a message".

Tennessee was one of the early states to adopt a law forbidding such waste. They had to go back and remove discretion form law enforcement agencies who were stonewalling them.

Several other states have enacted similar laws, including Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

A local politician in Ohio has made the logical leap; take turned in guns and sell them to dealers. Then use the money as a rotating fund to pay other people who want to turn in firearms, but do not want to take the trouble to sell them at a gun shop or gun show.

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Background

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Syndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesn’t trust you. That’s an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."

The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)

Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? Did you recognize him in the picture above? If not you may need to know more about him. It's all here (Backups here and here)

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” -- Robert A. Heinlein